“And so it began” proclaimed the advertisements. And so begins another summer moviegoing season, only now the season starts several weeks sooner than it did thirty-five summers ago.

Back in 1975, timed to coincide with schools letting out, Universal Pictures released Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s thrilling cinematic adaptation of Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel about a great white shark that terrorizes a New England coastal resort town.

Prompted by extraordinary feedback from the film’s sneak-preview screenings that spring, Universal, thanks in part to exhibitors agreeing to their stiff terms, saturated the market by opening Jaws simultaneously in nearly 500 theaters, a staggering number of bookings for 1975, and promoted the film with a massive television ad campaign. Little did anyone realize the impact — positive and negative — this one film would have as far as what type of movies would get made, when and how they would be released, and their earnings potential.

The premise that Jaws opened in a record number of theaters inspired me to research and assemble a list of the theaters that took part in the film’s landmark release. But…as the project progressed, it was discovered that the record saturation opening claim is nothing more than a myth. As it turns out, there were several films produced prior to Jaws that were given saturation launches greater than that of Spielberg’s film, including most notably Taylor-Laughlin’s The Trial Of Billy Jack (1974) and Columbia’s Breakout (1975).

Another myth surrounding Jaws is the amount of money it made. Numerous sources claim it was the first motion picture to gross $100 million. Not true (read on). What is not a myth, however, is how quickly Jaws made its money, as it without question made money faster than any film in history up to that point in time, thanks in large part to it being advertised on television, excellent word-of-mouth, mostly positive reviews, and that it was playing everywhere at once. Opening weekend brought in more than $7 million. After ten days: $21 million. The film was in the black a mere two weeks in release, and it cracked the blockbuster plateau of $100 million after only fifty-nine days in release. One by one, all of the big moneymaking records — The Sound Of Music, Gone With The Wind, Love Story, The Sting, The Exorcist, The Godfather — began to topple. Jaws went from a troubled production to the biggest hit the industry had ever seen, proving just how unpredictable the film business can be. It’s funny how things work out.

The industry also has a funny way of remembering only the films that are successful, and it likes to honor its (successful) past when round-numbered anniversaries turn up. So with that in mind, here, on the occasion of its 35th anniversary, is a quick-reference tribute to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Enjoy this flashback to the summer of ‘75…

1 = Rank on top-grossing films of 1975
1 = Rank on all-time list of top-grossing films at close of run
1 = Rank on all-time list of top rentals at close of run
2 = Number of years Jaws held the #1 spot on list of all-time top-grossing films
3 = Number of Academy Awards won by Jaws
4 = Number of Academy Awards for which Jaws was nominated
7 = Number of years Jaws was Universal Pictures' most-successful film
7 = Rank on current list of all-time top-grossing films adjusted for inflation
9 = Number of consecutive weeks Jaws was the top-grossing film
14 = Number of days it took for Jaws to turn a profit
26 = Steven Spielberg’s age when he accepted the directorial assignment
39 = Rank on current list of all-time top-grossing films
40 = Number of weeks Jaws played in its longest-running engagement
48 = Rank on American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest American Films
59 = Number of days it took for Jaws to surpass $100 million
78 = Number of days it took for Jaws to become the industry’s top-grossing movie
159 = Number of days it took to shoot the movie
161 = Number of days it took for Jaws to surpass $150 million
464 = Number of opening-week bookings in the United States and Canada
2,500+ = Number of theaters in North America that showed Jaws during original run

“Slow ahead. I can go slow ahead. Come on down and chum some of this sh*t.” — Brody

“This is not a boat accident.” — Hooper

“Smile, you son of a bitch.” — Brody

WHAT THE CRITICS HAD TO SAY

“Jaws is an artistic and commercial smash. Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, and director Steven Spielberg, have the satisfaction of a production problem-plagued film turning out beautifully. Peter Benchley’s bestseller about a killer shark and a tourist beach town has become a film of consummate suspense, tension and terror. The Universal release looks like a torrid moneymaker everywhere.” — A.D. Murphy, Variety

“Destined to become a classic.” — Arthur Cooper, Newsweek

“The first and crucial thing to say about the movie Universal has made from Peter Benchley’s best-seller Jaws is that the PG rating is grievously wrong and misleading. The studio has rightly added its own cautionary notices in the ads, and the fact is that Jaws is too gruesome for children, and likely to turn stomachs of the impressionable at any age.” — Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times

“Brilliant young director Steven Spielberg has taken the premise of Peter Benchley’s best-selling but rather pedestrian novel Jaws — a summer resort community terrorized by the presence of a rogue Great White Shark — and streamlined it into a new classic of cinematic horror and high adventure. The movie version of Jaws is one of the most exciting and satisfying thrillers ever made.” — Gary Arnold, The Washington Post

“Jaws is a thriller of surprise rather than suspense. You feel like a rat, being given shock treatment, who has not yet figured out the pattern.” — Molly Haskell, The Village Voice

“The real hero of the film is young director Steven Spielberg. No review of Jaws should tell you too much of what happens, but every review of Jaws should tell you how masterfully Spielberg manipulates the audience. Wisely he relies on our imagination. For a long time we don’t see the whole shark, just the results. Or we are the shark, hovering beneath the swimmers, watching.” — Dominique Paul Noth, The Milwaukee Journal

“In spite of some rather gruesome scenes, Jaws is a superior piece of entertainment.” — Larry Stallings, Daytona Beach Journal

“Jaws is a movie whose every shock is a devastating surprise. It is elaborate, technically intricate, and wonderfully crafted. Contains classic sequences of suspense…The final battle is literally explosive.” — Time Magazine

“Jaws provides us with chills enough for the hottest of summers and hydrophobia for life.” — Judith Crist, New York Magazine

“Shock piles upon shock until the viewer is half-dead from fright, and it’s all so skillfully directed by 27-year-old Steven Spielberg, edited by Verna Fields, scored by John Williams and photographed by Bill Butler, that you can’t escape its tension and power even if you want to.” — Rex Reed, New York Daily News

“If you think about Jaws for more than 45 seconds you will recognize it as nonsense, but it’s the sort of nonsense that can be a good deal of fun if you like to have the wits scared out of you at irregular intervals.” — Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“Spielberg ranks with [William] Friedkin as a foremost commercial practitioner of a gritty, punchy, visual equivalent of best-seller prose.” — Tom Allen, The Village Voice

“The technical credits, from Bill Butler’s photography to John Williams' music, with a theme that recalls Bernard Herrmann’s classic score for Psycho, all add up to movie magic of a high order.” — George Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“It is news when a 26-year-old film director goes $2 million over budget and two and a half months over schedule and manages to avoid getting fired. But then, Steven Spielberg has managed to perform the impossible for most of his brief adult life — like successfully directing Joan Crawford in her first television movie. His most recent accomplishment will be hard to beat.” — Bob Thomas, Associated Press

TRIVIA & FACTOIDS

Promotional slogans used for the Jaws release included: “And so it began…” “She was the first…” “The terrifying motion picture from the terrifying No. 1 best seller.” “Amity Island had everything. Clear skies. Gentle surf. Warm water. People flocked there every summer. It was the perfect feeding ground.”

Author Peter Benchley appears as a reporter in the Fourth of July sequence.

Jaws spawned three sequels, a theme park attraction, a video game, a musical, and countless imitations.

Jaws has been spoofed numerous times, most famously in Mad Magazine (as Gums) and Playboy (as Jugs) and on an episode of Saturday Night Live.

For his Jaws music, composer John Williams won an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe.

The majority of Jaws was photographed on location in and near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

The original shooting schedule called for 55 filming days. The shoot was so problematic and difficult that, ultimately, principal photography lasted 159 days. Crew members jokingly referred to the film as Flaws.

Director Steven Spielberg was 27 years old when Jaws was produced. (Many references, including one elsewhere in this article, cite 26 as Spielberg’s age at the time. The age discrepancy can be explained by pointing out that biographical information published early in Spielberg’s career often cited his year of birth as 1947 when, in fact, he was born in 1946. It should also be noted, for additional clarification, that Spielberg was 26 when he signed on to the project, 27 when it was filmed, and 28 when it was released.)

Jaws won three Academy Awards: Film Editing (Vera Fields), Original Score (John Williams) and Sound (Robert Hoyt, Roger Heman Jr., Earl Madery, John R. Carter). It addition, Jaws was nominated for Best Picture.

Aside from the Oscars, other awards and nominations Jaws received included an American Cinema Editors “Eddie” and Films and Filming Magazine’s Best Editing for Verna Fields' editing, a Grammy and Golden Globe for John Williams' music, six BAFTA nominations, a Directors Guild and Golden Globe nomination for Spielberg’s direction, and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture. In addition, Show-A-Rama awarded Spielberg Director of the Year and the Publicists Guild awarded Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown Producers of the Year.

The shark featured in the film was a combination of mechanical sharks (nicknamed “Bruce” by the crew) and underwater footage of real, live sharks shot near Australia by Ron and Valerie Taylor (Blue Water, White Death).

The memorable “treadmill” shot (i.e. simultaneous dolly-zoom) of Brody reacting to the shark attack during one of the beach sequences is one of, if not, the most effective examples of such a shot. It was inspired by similar shots featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and has been used (often to great effect) in numerous films since.

Jaws was the first movie released on the DiscoVision videodisc format (in 1978). Also during 1978 the film was released on Beta and VHS.

Jaws was first broadcast on Pay TV (i.e cable television) in August of 1979.

Jaws was first broadcast on network television on November 4, 1979. An estimated 80 million viewers tuned in, and it was at the time the second-most-watched movie broadcast, second only to the 1976 broadcast of Gone With The Wind.

Jaws was test-screened on March 26, 1975, in Dallas, Texas (at the Medallion) and March 28, 1975, in Lakewood, California (at Lakewood Center). An analysis of the screenings and questionnaire results prompted the filmmakers to shoot additional footage (in a Los Angeles swimming pool) for one scene. The final release version of the film was sneak-previewed in numerous cities during April & May 1975 (often as a double feature with Universal’s The Great Waldo Pepper).

Jaws is often mistakenly cited as the first motion picture to have grossed over $100 million. The fact is it was the first to exceed $100 million in rental revenue (i.e. the percentage of the gross receipts returned to the distributor). A few movies released prior to Jaws grossed over $100 million, including The Sound Of Music, The Godfather, The Exorcist, and, thanks to numerous re-releases, Gone With The Wind.

So certain he would receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, Spielberg, in February 1976, had a television news crew record live his reaction to the announcement broadcast of the Academy Award nominations. To his shock and disappointment, Spielberg was not nominated in the Best Director category, though the film was nominated in other categories. Spielberg would, however, in subsequent years receive Best Director nominations for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind**, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, *E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Munich**. (nomination/**nomination and win)

Jaws the was second collaboration between composer John Williams and director Steven Spielberg. Their first collaboration was The Sugarland Express in 1974, and subsequent to Jaws, Williams has scored every one of Spielberg’s directorial efforts (except for 1985’s The Color Purple).

Repeat performances: Jaws cast members Richard Dreyfuss, Murray Hamilton, Lorraine Gary, Susan Backlinie, and Ted Grossman appeared in subsequent Spielberg films. Hamilton, Gary and Backlinie all appeared in 1941 (1979), with Backlinie spoofing her role as the first shark victim. Dreyfuss played the lead in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) and Always (1989). Ted Grossman appeared in small roles (and provided stunt work) in Spielberg’s Indiana Jones series and a few others.

The fictitious Jaws 19, directed by Max Spielberg (the director’s real-life son), was featured as an inside joke in the Spielberg-produced Back To The Future Part II (1989). Upon seeing the title and holographic shark image on the marquee of the Holomax Theater in a scene set in the year 2015, the character of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) responds by quipping, “Shark still looks fake.”

Jaws producers Richard D. Zanuck and Robert Brown also produced Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express (and offered Spielberg the Jaws directorial assignment during its production).

Robert Shaw, John Milius (The Wind And The Lion, Big Wednesday) and Howard Sackler (The Great White Hope) did uncredited rewrites of the script.

The longest run of Jaws in the United States is believed to have been a 40-week engagement in Denver (27 weeks at the Cooper plus a 13-week moveover to the Cooper Cameo). The longest continuous run at a single theater is believed to have been a 39-week run at the Coliseum in Seattle.

The camera operator on Jaws was Michael Chapman, who would go on to a successful career as a cinematographer (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Lost Boys) and director (All The Right Moves, The Clan Of The Cave Bear).

In 1995, a feature-length retrospective documentary, produced by Laurent Bouzereau and showcasing new interviews with cast and crew members, was included on a collector’s edition laserdisc set. A condensed version of the documentary subsequently appeared on the Jaws DVD.

In 2001, Jaws was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

In June 2005, Martha’s Vineyard hosted JawsFest, which featured a cast and crew reunion, Q&A and autograph sessions, film screenings and other activities. (Think: Star Trek convention for Jaws fans.)

Director Steven Spielberg said in 2002: “Frankly, I don’t think that Jaws would do as well today as it did in 1975, because people would not wait so long to see the shark. Or they’d say there’s too much time between the first attack and the second attack. Which is too bad. We have an audience now that isn’t patient with us. They’ve been taught, by people like me, to be impatient with people like me.”

THE ORIGINAL ENGAGEMENTS

June 20, 1975…the day the modern summer blockbuster was born. Ever wonder where the movie opened? Well, look no further! What follows is a list of the theaters in the United States and Canada that opened Jaws on its initial June 20 release date.

Beginning July 25, 1975, the film’s sixth week, more than 200 additional engagements commenced, and Universal continued booking Jaws (primarily in small towns at this point) each week during the summer and well into the autumn months. These post-June 20 engagements have not been included in the list. (No new bookings took place in-between the original June 20 date and the July 25 expansion with the exception of a couple bookings [which are noted in the list] and some theaters in coastal New England resort towns that exhibited Jaws on a rotational basis among a cluster of theaters.)

By the end of 1975’s summer, Jaws had played in over 1,000 theaters, and by the end of its record run more than 2,000 theaters in the U.S. and Canada had played the film (and hundreds more internationally). Listed here, however, as an anniversary tribute, are the original 400+ bookings, which are being given special attention since these were the first anywhere to have played the landmark film.

The list serves many purposes. On one level it is simply a list specific to Jaws and its exhibition history. On another level, though, it offers an historical snapshot of the film industry circa the mid-1970s.

The bookings list that follows has been tailored for readers of Cinema Treasures by providing links for those theaters where a dedicated page exists so readers may learn more or reminisce about a featured theater. In addition, note the number of entries for which there is no link; in other words, help get pages created for these unaccounted for theaters.

In regard to the theaters in which Jaws played, effort has been made to retain as often as possible any special spelling or stylization used in its promotion (i.e. newspaper advertising and/or photographic evidence of theater marquees). There were a number of single-screen theaters still operating in 1975. However, most of the theaters in which Jaws played, as you’ll glean from the list, were of the multiplex variety. In these instances, The total number of screens in a complex have been cited rather than the specific screen/auditorium in which Jaws played so as to provide an historical record of how many screens were in a given complex during 1975 since many theaters expanded over the years, and historical accounts in books and websites (including Cinema Treasures) often do not accurately or comprehensively account for a venue’s screen-count timeline or alternate name history.